Recycling Christmas Lights: Don’t throw them into garbage
Every year, we witness this great (Christmas) festival with our families. The houses and the trees in it are decorated with certain lights. All this is done to make this festival more gloomy because it is a tradition. Christmas lights are bought to do this.
After the festival, the only hurdle people face is disposing of these lights or recycling them for another good use. If not taken care properly, these lights can become harmful for the environment causing e waste.
What are Christmas Lights Made up of?
The strings that hold the little bulbs are made up of the copper metal. This metal is covered by PVC plastic. There’s a plug at either end of the strings. Little bulbs are attached to the strings. These bulbs are made up of glass.
The glasses are shaped by blowing air into them. Metal wires are present in the bulb too. Metal filaments are the main material in the glass which gets hot and produces the light.
Normally, bulbs have different lights i.e red, blue, green or yellow. Bulbs are colored to produce different color lights.
Christmas lights can release harmful substances if thrown away
Old electronics should always be taken care of. If you are keeping the lights because you use them often, then it is good. But if you want to store them for a long time, it might be harmful. If the lights are thrown away on the ground, they may leak and release harmful substances. These substances will impact the environment in a bad way.
So if you don’t want to keep them, it is better to recycle them. Recycling Christmas lights will result in saving the metal and plastic. Throwing them into landfills is also a bad idea. Because again it could release harmful substances and may impact the water or solid of that area.
Recycle Christmas Lights in these easiest ways
Not everyone is in a mood to do some hard work after the holidays. We have listed down some of the ways of getting rid of Christmas lights in the best way possible.
1. Submit them to Local Recycling Programs
Every city or county has their own recycling programs. You can see at MyGarbageSchedule if your area allows you to recycle the Christmas lights. Also, you can see online if there is any recycling program which wishes to get the lights to be dropped off at their place or they might pick up from your place.
2. Sell them back to stores you bought from
Some of the stores have this option where you can return the lights and get some money back. They might have better options to recycle them. It is better if you ask the store if they have a Take-Back Program before purchasing.
3. Take them to E-Waste Collection Events
People related to the recycling field organize events where you can trade or give away the recycling items. If you see any event happening near you related to E-waste, then this might be the best option where you can take your Christmas lights.
4. Do Creative things with lights at home
There are a lot of things you can do with lights at home. You just need to be creative. If you can’t think of something, then Pinterest is the best platform where you can get so many innovative ideas.
Some of the ideas are: Decorating your dining table, decorating your bedroom windows, wrapping them around table lamps, writing your name, or creating a shape with the lights.
Earn Money By Recycling Holiday Lights
Just like scrap brass shells, you can also earn money by recycling the holiday lights. All you have to do is surf the internet and search for the recycling scrap lights. You will find many companies which might be accepting the lights at a very better rate than you can actually get physically.
